Mama And Baby Both Celiac

[veggiemama]

Hi,

I just wanted to introduce myself. I found out recently (within the past week) that my daughter and I are both celiac. She is almost 12 months old. She has had rashes basically since she was born. She is breastfeed, and I found out that wheat bothered her through my milk when I would eat wheat but I never thought it could be celiac. I did not know much about it.

Before knowing that we were celiac, I stopped eating wheat but then I started eating it again and her rashes came back. Again -- I never really thought more into it other than "oh she must just be sensitive to wheat right now"

All my life I have had digestive problems and I knew that eating wheat in particular really aggravated my stomach from time to time. I actually went wheat-free and sugar-free for a long time (I'm vegan) and felt better. But during the pregnancy is really when I started having problems. My midwife wanted me to eat "protein protein protein!" so I added wheat to my diet again. I ate bagels, sandwiches... not to mention other gluten containing grains.

After the birth, my stomach problems got even worse. I felt nauseated lot but I did not know why. Recently, I got food poisoning which was awful and when I started feeling better and was able to eat again, I started eating rye bread sandwiches, spelt pretzels and wheat crackers (before I knew I was celiac obviously) and I started to feel bad again. Now my stomach is so aggravated I can hardly eat without feeling nauseated and having stomach pain. Its probably been about 3-4 weeks since I've had gluten. Shouldn't I start feeling better? I've been living on potatoes. My next approach is drinking fresh raw juices because I know they heal the digestive tract.

I'm off all grains even ones that do not contain gluten, soy and all nuts. However, this is not a problem to me since I am not able to eat much of anything at the moment.

Any thoughts or suggestions will be much appreciated

[ItchyMeredith]

Welcome! You came to the right place. This board is an amazing hub of celiac information. I have learned so much in my 8 months here. I too am a vegetarian celiac. I believe mine turned on during my first pregnancy but I only found out in June. We are trying to find out if my oldest is celiac too. Just curious- how did your baby get her diagnosis? It is wonderful that you found a doctor who was able to get to the bottom of this. Many parents struggle for years to find the answer.

My advice to a new veggie celiac is to:

1) Read everything you can about celiac and arm yourself with information. After reading just a couple of books you may find that you know more about celiac than your family doctor. 2) Also- stay active on here and feel free to ask questions. BabyCenter.com also has a board for parents of kids with food allergies. Celiac is not an allergy but that is where the celiac mommies go too. There is also a board called Vegiac for vegetarian/vegan celiacs. Open Original Shared Link 3)Get a few cookbooks. My favorites are The Gluten-Free Vegetarian Kitchen by Donna Klein, and The Gluten-Free Vegan by Susan O'Brian. I got both of these on Amazon.

Good luck with everything! You and your baby will be fine once you get adjusted to the diet. Message me if you have any more questions.

Mere

[dandelionmom]

I was going to suggest cutting out dairy then I realized you're vegan so that doesn't help! I wonder if you need to go back to the doctor for allergy testing to see if you're allergic to any of the foods you're eating.

I ditto the suggestion to check out the Vegiac site. I'm a vegetarian with celiac and it gets hard to think of what to eat sometimes!

[veggiemama]

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Is there anything that may be good to put topically on my daughters rashes until they clear up? She reacted to the gluten in my breastmilk when I was eating gluten-containing foods. She itches the rashes.... I have heard of putting diluted apple cider vinegar on the rash (as well as putting some in her bath). That seems to be helping.

[missy'smom]

There is a skin condition associated with celiac disease called dermatitis herpetiformus(sp?) that is itchy. There is a cream they can prescribe for it. You can read about it here at the Celiac Sprue Association website.

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